We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Large Startling

by Former Ruins

supported by
Casey Gallenberger
Casey Gallenberger thumbnail
Casey Gallenberger There is a tendency for any artist to be insular and resolve to sit comfortably in an echo chamber. Not so for this record, which reads one part catechism, one part apologetics primer. In an age where the punk narrative has shifted in favor of popular rhetoric and most Christian music seems founded in feeling more than objective Truth, Large Startling is not shy to speak lovingly into our modern chaos and remind us of the beauty of the Gospel that sustains us. Favorite track: Slow Embrace (When Dylan Dies).
rgolias
rgolias thumbnail
rgolias I've been listening to this album again and again all year. My favorite music album of the last decade! Favorite track: Slow Embrace (When Dylan Dies).
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

    Lyrics are included as a PDF alongside the digital tracks and can also be found at: www.formerruins.com/lyrics
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

1.
Flannelgraph 03:23
Cross-references to defend Reverend's answers in genesis First you read Velvet Elvis, then some Bart Ehrman No one ever sounded so intelligent Now dress him up in flannelgraph to model metaphysics Roasted at the table of sophisticates He's the dead tongue Latin mass, the church plant that doesn't last He's whatever you want to dismiss I want to get angry, but I cannot We were all true believers All my friends, we used to skate Little WWJDers All our bands broke up and so did childlike faith Shelter in the branches of That Bazan album you love You said it dealt with doubt so honestly Babe, I didn't doubt your sincerity But it planted an image in your brain With just a little poetic turn of phrase About misbehaving and magic trees At seventeen you're deconstructing We were all true believers All my friends, we used to skate Little WWJDers All our bands broke up and so did childlike faith But something said in Gethsemane It's never left me It's something I haven't found easy to shake When I was caught in adultery I saw him drawing me into A large startling figure 8 But from a far-off distance, they can size up And crush us between two fingers That's just how it feels But you're flashing like fire For the half-blind and beleaguered You're a large startling figure
2.
Chaplain 04:39
I'm not gonna be your chaplain any longer To whatever it is you think I think About God or whatever But I am a small fish in great big water How can I exist outside my relativistic culture When it's within me, it's without me without you and all those bands we listened to Who fought tooth and nail to suspend our disbelief So where are you gonna go with those big questions on your brain Where are you gonna go when the wanderlust runs the length of your vein You may think you're leaving nothing but your thin belief behind But there's more than one way to hang a narrow frame, babe And there's more than one way to take the name in vain, this is know There's more than one way to hang a narrow frame Around, around the mind I'm not gonna be your little precious moment lamb Your hashtag blessed, yellow-pressed, gaslit yes man I wanna be the stigmata marks for you to touch with sticky fingers, son I'll be waiting for your call, we can talk all about old Sufjan Stevens songs And what we all had right and wrong back then, at prayer meetings in our parents' basements, when We were naive, when we were sincere, It's so easy to believe that we were just faking it But there's more than one way to hang a narrow frame, babe And there's more than one way to take the name in vain, this I know There's more than one way to throw your body at the flames Toward Gehenna or streets of gold There's more than one to way to invite a life of pain Spit out or eat the bitter scroll There's more than one way to hang a narrow frame Around, around the mind The strife of tongues And strutting thighs Clickbait bitrate Catechize The minds of old and young Flee from the wrath to come Kyrie eleison Invisible chatroom and the DRC Dot-com boom of human trafficking With bodies on the web Our hidden sins entangle everyone Kyrie eleison Red letter left leaning type or Red heifers for End times sacrifice The plain reading of the text We cannot agree upon Kyrie eleison I'm not gonna be your chaplain any longer I have skin in the game And blood on the altar
3.
4.
Misshapen 00:58
5.
6.
Way Out 04:28
7.
World 02:48
8.
How 04:23

about

Recording for this debut album began in December 2018, a month after I moved my family on the winds of prayer from Delaware to Eastern Indiana. We settled in Muncie, began renting a small house, and in a blessedly-dry corner of our basement, I began my work. While children slept upstairs and in the margins of our time after the workday, these songs took shape. I partnered with Jon Class to mix the debut single Cars of Our Youth in July 2019. Now it's time for the full collection to surface.

This album was backed on Kickstarter in December 2019 by a group of very generous friends, family, and new listeners. Without their help, it wouldn't have existed in this form, and I'm humbled to offer back this album to those who threw their support behind my wife and myself.

This album is about doubt, mercy, and wonder. Songs about marriage, child-raising, and precious things interweave with protestations against discontentment and the narrow representation of religious faith. It's by turns fiery, confessional, and insecure. It's autobiographical, but I do hope that you find in it something worth hearing.

Thanks to Flannery O'Connor for inspiring the album title.

credits

released March 13, 2020

© & ℗ 2020 Levi Dylan Sikes (ASCAP) / Slow Embrace Records (ASCAP)
All rights reserved

Written, performed, and recorded by Former Ruins in Muncie, IN
Tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 mixed by Jon Class at The Varsity Recording Co., Anderson, IN
Track 5 mixed by Chris Bethea
Mastered by Alex Dobbert

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Former Ruins Muncie, Indiana

You've shown me your power by where you conceal it.

contact / help

Contact Former Ruins

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Former Ruins, you may also like: